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    Monsoon Mansion: A Memoir
    Monsoon Mansion: A Memoir
    Monsoon Mansion: A Memoir
    Audiobook9 hours

    Monsoon Mansion: A Memoir

    Written by Cinelle Barnes

    Narrated by Cinelle Barnes

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Told with a lyrical, almost-dreamlike voice as intoxicating as the moonflowers and orchids that inhabit this world, Monsoon Mansion is a harrowing yet triumphant coming-of-age memoir exploring the dark, troubled waters of a family’s rise and fall from grace in the Philippines. It would take a young warrior to survive it.

    Cinelle Barnes was barely three years old when her family moved into Mansion Royale, a stately ten-bedroom home in the Philippines. Filled with her mother’s opulent social aspirations and the gloriously excessive evidence of her father’s self-made success, it was a girl’s storybook playland. But when a monsoon hits, her father leaves, and her mother’s terrible lover takes the reins, Cinelle’s fantastical childhood turns toward tyranny she could never have imagined. Formerly a home worthy of magazines and lavish parties, Mansion Royale becomes a dangerous shell of the splendid palace it had once been.

    In this remarkable ode to survival, Cinelle creates something magical out of her truth—underscored by her complicated relationship with her mother. Through a tangle of tragedy and betrayal emerges a revelatory journey of perseverance and strength, of grit and beauty, and of coming to terms with the price of family—and what it takes to grow up.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateMay 1, 2018
    ISBN9781543643855
    Monsoon Mansion: A Memoir
    Author

    Cinelle Barnes

    Cinelle Barnes is an essayist, memoirist, educator, and candlemaker with a BA in media studies in journalism from Hunter College and a master of fine arts in creative writing from Converse College. Books have been the one constant in her life—through her tumultuous childhood in the Philippines, her years living as an undocumented immigrant in New York City, her time as a new bride living in the American South, and as she completed her MFA program and began writing about her secrets. She lives between two states with her husband and daughter: New York, where she is always inspired to write, and South Carolina, where she can be close to the ocean. Find her online at www.cinellebarnes.com, and follow her on Instagram @cinellebarnesbooks.

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    Reviews for Monsoon Mansion

    4/5

    16 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      My most favorite about this book was the writing. It's lyrical and beautiful. At some point, I forgot I was reading a memoir. This was an emotional and very inspiring read.
    • 4/5
      What a beautifully written memoir. Cinelle Barnes gently peels back the layers of her life in the Philippines living in the lavish Mansion Royale. Her family basked in their opulent lifestyle, indulging in all of the finer things. But the Gulf War sends the family into poverty and her life becomes a living hell. ⁣
      ⁣
      A monsoon floods the mansion, her father leaves and their home is taken over by her mother’s wicked lover. The mansion becomes a haven for criminals, gambling (cock fighting), prostitution and many other lewd activities. This is a powerful story about survival, love, heartbreak, resilience and redemption. What I loved the most is the delicate way the story unfolds as she details the most horrific events of her brutal childhood. ⁣